Folding automobile-top.



L. BRESIN FOLDING AUTOMOBILE TOP.

I APPLICATION lLw 'rocT. 5. I917. 1 1,294,038.

Y Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

2'SHEETSSHEEI I.

L. BRESIN. Fowmc AUTOMOBILE TOP.

' APPLICATION FILED OCT-5.19M. 1,294,038.

Patented Feb. 11, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

jtllI'BS; 1 x mprovement on the construction 5 newaandiuseful agiiistt ee i th s h of the;

te' t i ea se 'cal ly asthetop is folded or raised. In the of ,thetop and. theplinks are a m mes." s e u A. I.

Specific 13% raum RL wa zen of Russia, and residentof NewYork, bore ssh Off Manha t nri n y a S eet Ne ork ,;;.l -Wej invented certain I v Improvements in Folding Automobile-Tops of hich the following is improvement in fold-- and as to its main fea-' h'.. t? ns anwmqbile tape a disclosed andclaimed the Williams Pat- 'ent No. i1,1 51,3;l&,. issued August 24th, 1915.

that patent here is disclosed a bow construction which, permits the front of the top to benarrowerwhen. in raised or operative" position'than when inlfolded position. Themain object of the-present invention in. width automatispecific construction illustrated in said Williarnslpatentg theQfront or transverse boW of the topjs connected to the two side substantiallylhorizontal{bows by links which as the, front. w and.- thereby [increase the refle t ve s raisedsd as yito idecr top,; by amamountiapproximately equal to leh gthsof the two links.

my .presentinvention, I provide means whereby thisjswingingof the said links is efifeoted automatically during the movement at all times.

held in the proper positiongdepending upon 5 team;

the folded or raisedposition of the top. .Merely asane xample'of such a. construction, Iihave illustratedlone embodiment of I myainyention in,the jaccompanying 'drawinga; It will. be understood that 'I do not desire be to this specific construe tion; except defined in the appended claims.

. -n d a in s...

of a motor vehicle; he covering of the top being partlyremovedjtoshowthe bows in side elevation withthe top raised;- f y Fig; 2 is I a central vertical section through fa portion of the top when corner-1 re terate an'rononma-ror; 1;: i I

va side levation of a portion ran @TAFENT enrich.

.l. i kl l a naatio m ioctoters,1231?. Seria11to.i$e,845. 'F

1. ri flgifi a t me {sf au ts side "of;

some of'thefparts-shown i i-Fig. 3; r a. Fig. 5 s 'a: view similar to a portionof Fig. 4 but showing the parts approaching. folded position; w i f Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the frame of the top and i Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a por-v tionof one of the transverse bows onalarger scale, a a I have illustrated'niy invention in: connection with a vehicle body having. four I sidewall sections, two of them constitl ltingv doors l0 and 11 and the other two, ,consti tuting rear and intermediate stationary porv tions. 7 Each of these Wall sections is shown. as carrying corresponding'removable panels 10", .1131'2 and 13*, each of which [hasa rigid frame and a transparent bodyiportion of glass, celluloid, or the like The particu lar manner? in which these panels are do tach'ably secured-inplace and are" connect: ed at their upper edges to the frame ofjthe top forms no portion of my present invention and therefore has not been illustrated.

The frame of the top includes a plurality of bows pivotally connected together and of a type commonly known as a tone-man top; that is, it is body only at one point on each side and that point being'finthe rear of the reardoor.

pivotally secured *to the The particular number of bows illustrated I 7 is not important so faras the present 111 vention is concerned, theframe illustrated being wha-tis commonly known as afive-bow top that is,' there are five transverse'memhere for supporting the fabric'or other flexible covering which is secured'in any manner common in the art. The particular method of connecting these bows is not important except the mechanism hereinafter described I for automatically. effecting the variation in idth of the frontportionof; the frame formed by said bows. 1

, As illustrated, there is a main substantially vertioalbow 20 having side members '21 pivotally secured to the body in the rear; of the rear door and a'transverse member 22 for supporting; the fabric covering. In the rear of th s how is one or more somewhat similar bows 23 which extend diagonally upwardly and rearwardly. Pivotally securedfito the side members 21 of the main; vertical-bow 20 is a substantially horizontal frame or bow made up of a plurality of pivotally connected sections. tions 24 whichare pivoted to the side members 21 of the bow 20 and mounted to swing about horizontal transversely extending axes. Hinged to the front ends of these bow sections 24: are a-pair of bow sections 25 which are substantially in alinement with the bow sections 24: when the top is in raised position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6. The hinges are such that the bow sections 25 may swing about horizontal transversely extending pivots and can swing in only one direction from the alined position shown.

The front of the main horizontal bow is formed of a "bow section 26 which is connected to the front ends of the two bow sections 25 by a pair of short bow sections or links 27. These are each hinged at each end as is shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 5 so that they can swing about vertical axes and can come to positions substantially in alinement with the side bow sections 25, as shown in Fig. 3, or. can come to positions substantially in a-linement with the front bow 26, an intermediate position being shown in Fig. 5.

Pivotally connected to the bow sections 21 intermediate of their ends is a bow including side members 28 and a transverse member 29. Between this bow and the upper part of the vertical bow is another and similar bow having side members 30 and a transverse member 31. The side members 30 of this bow are connected to the side members 28 of the bow in advance thereof by links 32 and the side members 30 are connected to the vertical bow above the pivotal supports of the bow members 24 by llnks 33. The side members 28 are also pivotally connected to the bow members 25 by links 34. Thus, when the hinged-connections between the bow sections 24 and 25 are broken by the raising of the front of the main horizontal bow, the

two diagonally disposed intermediate bows will simultaneously swing upwardly and rearwardly to' and through the positions indicated in Fig. 2.

. It will be evident that in this figure I have not shown the parts in their final-folded or lowered position.

As the .most important feature of my in vention, I provide means whereby the links 27 are swung from the position shown in Figs: 3 and 6 to and through the position shownin Fig. 5 as the top is folded- The particular illustrated. embodiment of this means includes links 35 connected at their rear ends to extensions 36 on the links 34 below the pivotal connections 37 between the.

latter and the bow sections 25. The front ends of the links 35 are connected to inwardly extending brackets 38 on the inner sides of the links 27 and in advance of the pivotal connections between said links 27 and the side bow members 25.

This bow includes secpositions, the bow .toward or from each other, and the trans- -As the said links 35 are connected to the links 27, the latter are forced to swing inwardly toward or through the position shown in Fig. 5. The parts are so proportioned that when the top is completely folded back, the links 27 will be approximately inalinement with the front transverse bow member 26.

It will be noted that the links 34 and their extensions 36 constitute levers with their fulcrums on the pivots 37 and that these levers, by reason of the pivotal connection between the bows, are compelled to swing about their fulcrums during the folding or raising. As the levers themselves cannot move while the top is stationary in either raised or lowered position, the links 27 are effectively locked at all times. I may allow sufiicient looseness Variation in the effective width of the front of the horizontal bow will not necessitate or resultin any change in the intermediate bows, but in practice I prefer to make the transverse members 29 and 31 extensible so that their total efi'ective length may vary with the variation in the total effective length of the front of the horizontal bow. No links orother operating mechanism are needed in ordinary practice to effect the variation in the length of the bows 29 and 3l'and a simple telescoping or sliding connection -is all that is necessary. Preferably, the two bows 29 and 31 are cut in two intermediate of their ends and the two sections are connected by some such parts as those shown in Fig. 7. Here, I have shown one section 29 of the bow member 29 provided with a thin metal plate 10 with inturned edges to make a channel or groove and have shown the other section 29 provided with a plate 41 mounted to slide in this groove or channel but held against any other movement in respect to the latter. Thus, as the top is raised or folded and the links 27 swing to lengthwise or transverse sections 24- and 25 swing verse bow members 29 and 31 slightly decrease or increase in. total effective length.

Having thus described my invention.

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A vehicle top having side frame members. a front framemember, two links each having one end pivoted to a corresponding side member and one end pivoted tosaid front member and means connected to said links for swinging them transversely of the top into or out of substantial alinement with. said side members as the top is raised or folded.

2. A vehicle top having a frame, including side members, a front member, connections between said side members and said front member, and means connected to said side members for automatically operating said connections tovary the effective length of said side members and a corresponding and inverse variation in the effective length of said front member by swinging said side members'in a vertical plane.

3. A foldable vehicle top having a frame,

including side members, a front member, and means for automatically increasing the effective length of said front member and decreasin' the effective length of said side members uring the movement of said top to folded position.

4. A vehicle top-having a frame including side members, a front member, links connecting said side members and said front member, and means connected to saidlinks for automatically swinging them substantially into alinement with said side members or with .said front member as said top is raised or folded.

A vehicle top having a substantially vertical bow, a substantially horizontal bow pivoted thereto and including a plurality of pivotally connected sections, an intermediate upwardly and forwardly extending bow pivoted to said horizontal bow, and means con-' nected to two of said bows for automatically varying the efiective width ofthe front of said top upon the relative movement of two said bows.

6. A vehicle top including a substantially horizontal bow, an upwardly and forwardly inclined bow and connections between them whereby the total efiective width of the front of said inclined bo'iw is varied upon a relative movement of said inclined bow and said horizontal bow.

7 A vehicle top including a plurality of bows, each havinga transversely extending cover supporting member and means for varying the total effective width of certain of said transverse members to different extents during the folding of the top, the foremost transverse member having the greatest variation during said movement.

8. A vehicle top including a plurality of bows, one of which has a transverse member formed of slidably connected sections and another of which has a front member, side members and links connecting said front second mentioned bow during the folding of i the top.

9. A vehicle top including a substantially horizontal bow formed of a plurality of sections, an inclined bow pivoted thereto, a link connecting one of said sections and said inclined bow, and a link connecting said first mentioned link and another of said sections for automatically moving said sections in respect to each other to vary the total effective width of said horizontal bow upon the relative movement of said horizontal bow and said inclined bow.

10. A vehicle top including a substantially horizontal bow including a plurality of pivotally connected sections, an upwardly and forwardly inclined bow, and means including a link connected to said horizontal bow and to said inclined bow for automatioally varying the effective width of the front portion of said hcrizontal bow upon a relative movement of said bows.

11. A vehicle top including a bow having side members, a front member, links connecting said front member to said side members, a second bow having a transverse member formed of two slidably connected sections, and connections between said second bow and said links for swinging said links substantially into alinement with said front member and simultaneously elongating said second bow as the top is swung from raised to folded position.

12. A vehicle top including a substantially horizontal bow including opposite side memhers, a front member, and links connecting said side members to said front member, a second bow, links connecting saidsecond bow and said side members, and linksconnecting said first mentioned links and said second mentioned links for swinging said first mentioned links in the plane of said first mentioned bow and in respect to the members thereof upon the relative movement of said bows.

Signed at city of New. York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 3rd day of October, A. D. 1917.

LOUIS BRESIN. 

